nc?^'j 






m^ -.\,\. ;. „ ., ■ 

mm 
m 

jiff.t'V;V> irk; 

Hi 



PS 991 
iB3B8 






^3^!: 



stasia"--;-'! 









^i 



frm^^a!^ 



ill 



Kiifei 









mm 













\r^ 








o * » 







% -^^0^ o* 



(0^ .o<'JL«»-'^o 



..s» A 



o ^^O^ 



O N O -^ ^^ 




O ^* ,t 




























o ^ 



% 












* .-^-^ ^. 











'^w^' 







-oV»^^ 












"^ V » ' * » 

















^v-^' 

.^^'>- 



^. • 







THE 



BULLS AND THE BEARS 



-OB, 



WALL ST. SQFIB, NO. I. 



RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO OUR 
READERS. 



" Tn short, so long as we your favors claim, 

" ^ShorV cut or " Long^^ cut to us is all tli,e same." 

^^ ■ — "^^ ^^ 

PUBLISHED AT 123 NASSAU ST. 

1854. 







rf" 



THE 



BULLS AND THE BEARS 



OR, 



WALL ST. SQUIB. NO. I. 



RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO OUR 
READERS. 



** In short, so long as we your faT" 
" >S'Aor<" cut or " iowf/" 




NEW 



PUBLISHED AT 128 NASSAU ST, 

1854. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 
GEO. C. HOLBEOOK, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Coart of the Soathera District of New-YoTk. 



THE BULLS MD THE BEARS: 

OR, 

WALL ST. SaUIB NO. I. 



In the old days of Mannahatta, 
When fools were fewer, folks were fatter, 
The only Bulls that paw'd the ground, 
And whisk'd their savage tails around, 
Were of the useful Bovine kind, 
Whose business was the Cows to mind ; 
Enhance the value of the soil. 
And pay the simple peasant^s toil. 
With blessings in the shape of weal, 
And promises of future eveal, 
Ah ! Noble animals were they ; 

Dauntless, they shook their horns on high ; 
Eyed, with unfalt'ring gaze, the day, 

And seemed prepared to do or die : 
They nerer managed things by halves ; 



8 

Nor treated ill the tender calves ; 

Ne'er stole a marcli upon a foe, 

Nor dealt him, from behind, a blow ; 

Though oft they had to fear the snares 

Of their worst enemies — the Bears. I 

They shrunk not meeting face to face. 

The brute most hostile to their race ; 

And — to their credit, be it said — 

Disdained to gore the Bears, when dead ; 

But chew'd, with savage pride, their cud. 

And left the prostate foe — in meed. . ^ti.vvO 

Ah ! Those, indeed, were good old days ; 

The people ponder'd well their ways ; 

The Bulls were looked upon as cattle ; 

The Bears as lawful prize in battle ; 

These swelled the farmer's precious stocks, 

And added to his " pile of rocks :" 

His " stock," thank Heaven ! was alive ; 

No lame ducks, dead heads then could thrive ; 

The Bulls were tame and all corrected ; 

The Bears w^ere fat — and all were suited. 

But now — how changed is Mannahatta ! 

Where once the good vrows beat their batter 

In pleasant fields — now turned to squares. — 

Are stores, magnificent with weares : 

And where once roamed, in those far times, 



All sorts of quadrupedal brutes, 
Undisturb'd by city-chirpes, 

Listening but the village-flutes — 
Is now a Street — where Brokers meet, 
Where Bankers reign and Hebrews cheat ,' 
A street, too — dearly known to all. 
And by the hard-pressed first called Wall. 

^ '* Ht ^ ik 

The Israelitish hosts bowed down 

Before a senseless, golden calf; 

As you may see a circus — clown 

Kiss the tanbark or the chaff : 

Symbolic that of Wall St. — tastes, 

Love of money, love of beasts ; 

The calf would do, in times so dull, 

But now is requisite a Bull. 
* % % % 

At Wall's dread name, how losers start ! 

How throbs the too — experienc'd heart ! 

How many thoughts oppress the brain. 

That ponders on its wide domain ; 

Its realm of silver, notes and gold. 

Of dreams how bright — of hopes how cold ! 

A mighty fabric, based on sand, 

(Its Walls are promised — " on demand ;") 

Would it were founded on " the rocks," 



10 

Not built of paper, scrip or stocks . 

Stocks ! ! at the sound what ghosts arise ! 

What horrid shrieks affright the skies ! 

What pale-faced wretches 'round appear ! 

How soon the smile becomes a tear ! 

The many-headed monster-dog 

(Cerberus is the name in vogue,) 

Seems to have left his place in H 1 

With us on Earth, a while to dwell ; 

But, fearful lest he raise a storm, 

Assumes another shape and form : 

Wall St. is now the gate he guards. 

For which he gathers rich rewards ; 

And spite of art, in cunning's spite. 

The Stock-List shows him to our sight ; 

Its rise or fall — his appetite. 

This monster-stock-list also shows, — 

What Milton's muse could scarce disclose 

" A formidable, shapeless shape," 

Something 'twixt Bull, and Bear and Ape ; 

A mass, with members out of joint ; 

A mixed-up jumble, without point ; 

A grand array of lies, facts, figures ; 

A witch's caldron — whites and niggers. 
* * * * * 

One thing is certain — stocks ne'er brought 



11 

The very price, perhaps, they ought ; 
For worse than panics in a battle, 
Are those which strike the Wall St. cattle- 
Let but the gentlest zephyr bring, 
Upon its scarcely ruffled wing. 
The fact that England heaves a sigh, 
Because another Prince is nigh ; 
Or Francis Joseph has a cough ; 
Or Nicholas stops taking snuff ; 
Or all the ministers have gone 

To Saint Clored, with Napoleon ; cm'^4'^ ^ 

Or Santa Anna is Dictator ; 
Or Erin lacks but one potato ; 
Or Abdul takes another wife ; 
Or Russia cries, " war to the knife ;" 
Let these eventful tidings greet 
The '-'shrewd'^ and ''^wise'^ that throng "the street. 
You'd think, to hear their dire and clatter, 
That naught but Ruin was the matter : 
Sell — sell they must — down goes the stock ; 
And all the city feels the shock. 
Ah me ! we fain would quit the scene, 
Or think of Stocks as they have been ; 
When Mannahatta's farmers brought 
To market, poultry or sourkrout ; 
And deemed one cent advance on cheese,. 



X2 

A presage sure of future ease. 

No thought had they of bonds or bills, 

Of coal stocks, railroads, copper hills : 

Mountains of Carbon, tons of iron 

Did never their pure souls environ ; 

Nor ever, though distract with cares, 

Did they confide in Bulls or Bears. 

But their descendants — Heaven ! how changed ! 

How from their fathers' ways estranged ! 

Now, freely chat with them in Wall, 

And loan them money ev'n, on call ; 

Ask their advice — and take it too, 

And lose their all as such must do. 

To them we would address our rhymes, 

In these abominable times ; 

And beg attention, while in verse. 

We strive the stock-list to rehearse : 

And, since we needs must " go the whole," 

We might as well begin on Coal ; 

For this will warm us up a little, 

And make more briskly boil the kettle ; 

'Get up the steam and urge our song — 

As that the engine — swift along. 

* * * ¥r * 

Let us commence with " head and front ;" 
^Our method, like our verses, blunt — 



13 

And, with a soul that danger scorns, 

That big Bull grapple by the horns, 

In Wall St. christen 'd " Cumberland,'* 

The Leader of the Collier-band ! 

The pufTd-up monster ! huge Goliath, 

Who, though so tall, would still be higher ! 

Leviathan ! who shakes the deep 

Save — when his eyes are closed in sleep : 
Oh ! could he sleep like Rip van Winkle, 
How — how operators' eyes would twinkle ! 
For, sure as rain doth follow thunder, 
The stock goes up, when he doth slumber ; 
But when he wakes — down goes the stock, 

And Wall St. echoes, " what a block !" 

The fact is simply this — his forte 

Consists in selling coal not shorV 

(Pardon ! We were engaged with fish, 
And did not mean to change the dish :) 
Well ! this Leviathan is known 
To be, at last, about full-grown ; 
To fatten him, some smaller fry 
Were cast into his jaws to die ; 
At first a shark — but now a whale. 
He shakes his formidable tail ; 
Opes wide his mouth, as 'twould devour 
All who dare dispute his power ; 



I* 

f 



But,— how unlike the whale of yore 
Ifot one poor Jonah will restore : 
His fatal teeth, when once they close, 
Doom forever friends and foes : 
Teeth ! Seventy-six he once could boast. 
What time he was the general toast ; 
Now thirty-two he cannot claim, 
And is become the general shame. 

***** 
But Where's the expected dividend, 
A year since promis'd ? Heaven befriend 
The wretch, who trusts to coal « reports," 
And lends his ear to "Longs" or "Shorts!" 
When comes the golden shower, we'll know it. 
As Danae did— or Cora Mowatt. 
Ad interim, let's puff our smoke. 
And think the whole affair a joke; 
The precious fruit that, whilow, grew 

In gardens of the 'Kesperides, 
Was guarded by a dragon, who 

Pluck'd and piled them at his ease. 
To seize the fruit, and load your wagon— 

What must be done ? Destroy the dragon 

* * * * 

(Since writing the above— we hear 
'^® 's slain let's drop a tear !) 



15 

***** 
***** 

Lo ! amid storm and lightning-flashes, 
The Phoenix starts up from its ashes — 
And, though with wings the worse for fire, 
With pinions that can never tire. 
Ye, who would see a Phoenix-flight, 
But go to Piedmant — On the right, 
A mountain rises, stern and bold, 
"Which held " the big vein," as was told ; 
There perched one time the sacred bird. 
And toiled and scratched (so we have heard) 
At great expense to claws and beak ; 
But never found of coal a streak, 
And flew, at length to George's creek. 
Here now, unwearied, it doth strive, 
By every art and means, to live ; 
Content to find, though small the gain, 
That it has open'd " a big vein." 
Bright plumag'd fav'rite of the Sun 

And avaricious H \ 

What ! what, the devil ! hast thou done, 
That, fallen from thy high estate. 
Thou should'st decline at such a rate ? 
Herodotus himself declares. 
The Phoenix lived five hundred years ; 



16 

Its latest progeny may claim 
Naught of the parent — but the name — 
For that 'twill live another day, 
Is more than you or we can say. 

Hs % * H: He 

Ht % * 4: * 

Hark [ To those sounds that roll along 
In volume vast, in cadence strong ! 
What lengthen'd articles are these, 

Published as or please I 

"What Eulogies of measui'd note 

Drop in the people's gaping throat ! 

'Tis but to usher in the birth 

Of a new monster on the earth ; 

For this alone these Paeans rise, 

In grand accord, from Earth to skies ; 

•Surrounding sprits the chorus swell ; 

And echo answers back from h — 1 : 

•Orim. vulcan smiles — as well he may — 

To see a new mine greet the day ; 

To see the furnaces below 

Of brother-smiths encouraged so ; 

While Pluto, from his dark domain, 

Anticipates a double reign ; 

And laughs, with fierce, Tartarean glee, 

At sight of this New Company. 



1? 



Turn, we from this — and New creek too- 
Another wondrous thing to view : 
There's Parker Vein — to make a hit — 
In three dirisions now is split ; 
And, since it can no Unit be,. 
Becomes a precious Trinity , 
But, reverently be it said, 
A Trinity — without a head. 
Perchance the tall adjacent spire 
This lofty idea did inspire ; 
For, having in its eyes the steeple, 
Should it not also charm the people^ 
Point to fair Fortune's glitt'ring store^ 
\nd bid them all be poor no more ? 
Or it may be, that, near where sleep 
The dead, in many a mould'ring heap, 
The thought it too might, sometime, die, 
Roused its slumb'ring lethargy. 
And, fearing premature dissection. 
Anticipated resurrection. 
Oh ! could it rise a little higher, 
And, gradual, vie with yonder spire, 
How too the hopes of those would rise, 
(" Like grateful incense to the skies,") 
Who saw it once ascend in air, 



18 

A mighty column, full and fair, 

And on its capital beheld 

A vision bright as that of Eld, 

When, suddenly, what substance seemed, 

Fell, like a castle one has dreamed ; 

And, in its stead, a little mound, 

That scarce arose above the ground, 

(Sad ! that an edifice so brave 

Should shrink to measure of a grave !) 

Alone remained, to tell the story 

Of Parker Vein's departed glory. 

This little mound's now split in three^ 

And each one has its votary ; 

And earnest prayers are oflfer'd up ; 

And vows are utter'd o'er the cup ; 

And noonday-hours are hardly press'd ; 

And midnight passes withont rest ; 

And Heaven is invoked for aid, 

And Earth — thro' all her caves and fountains ; 

For what ? alas ! Shall it be said ? 

To turn these little mounds to mountains, 
* * Ht * * 

4t * * * * 

And now adieu ! to friends and foes — 
Our peace with these, our love with those , 
And though what's written you may call 



19 

^ Gaa" — with a voice and aspect placid — 

Agree with us we're sure will all, 

It is — if Gas — Carbonic acid. 

Again farewell ! perhaps another 
Month may give this squib a brother^ 

(Poor fellow I born 'neath baneful star, * 

And parentless, like Pa-na-ma !) ^ 

For, in affairs that touch the nation, 

And much concern our own salvation, 

We cannot wait — on this occasion — 

The ustial time of generation. 



1 











av O 















4 <^y "^ -» 














^oV^ 







Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
^ "^ <^ o'Vo ^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

*' Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 



'^^MK-^ "^^/^ PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 1 6066 
(724) 779-2111 




♦ ^ V 



.^"^ ^i'»^ "<^. Ii 






.... V^' '" 





-^ .♦^ ' 

v-^^ * 





• / 1 • 












O . I 




.<■' • 




o o5 °<* • 






Pv 



o 








^° >^ 



> <■/ •■ft $>.$ /, • "Ov A* * J^^^ky' ^*■ ■0, » 



Ac 



^^^^%. 




TDSB^baDDQO 





SSaiON03 JO AHVHOn 






m 



I«»S1»».WT** 






';*.'-'4?l 



'•-i»ar.;>»M» 



',rt!,. 



VU; 






